In a recent report, the Ministry of Transport said that while city authorities had designated 1,141 hectares for parking lots, just 561 hectares have been used as such. Many areas allocated for parking lots have instead been used for other purposes like swimming pools.

The ministry also said that 70 percent of 80 high-rise buildings it inspected in the city do not have sufficient parking space.

Since 2003, HCMC authorities have planned eight underground parking lots to tackle the problem, but so far all such projects remain in limbo, mainly due to red tape.

The city is currently home to more than 4.8 million motorbikes and over 480,000 cars.